Works by
Nancy D. Polikoff(Writer)

npoliko @ wcl . american . edu
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Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage: Valuing All Families under the Law
The debate over marriage equality for same-sex couples rages across the
country. Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage boldly moves the
discussion forward by focusing on the larger, more fundamental issue of
marriage and the law. The root problem, asserts law professor and LGBT
rights activist Nancy Polikoff, is that marriage is a bright dividing line
between those relationships that legally matter and those that don't. A
woman married to a man for nine months is entitled to Social Security
survivor's benefits when he dies; a woman living for nineteen years with a
man or woman to whom she is not married receives nothing.

Polikoff reframes the debate by arguing that all family relationships and
households need the economic stability and emotional peace of mind that
now extend only to married couples. Unmarried couples of any sexual
orientation, single-parent households, extended family units, and myriad
other familial configurations need recognition and protection to meet the
concerns they all share: building and sustaining economic and emotional
interdependence, and nurturing the next generation.

Couples should have the choice to marry based on the spiritual, cultural,
or religious meaning of marriage in their lives, asserts Polikoff. While
marriage equality for same-sex couples is a civil rights victory, she
contends that no one should have to marry in order to reap specific and
unique legal results.

A persuasive argument that married couples should not receive special
rights denied to other families, Polikoff shows how the law can value all
families, and why it must.